Public relations professionals can finally combat the chaos of a 24-hour, online news environment with ground-breaking, all-in-one service from Canada's industry leader.

TORONTO, April 29 /CNW/ - CNW Group (CNW) turned the newswire industry on its head today and set a new standard in communications management that is unmatched anywhere in North America.

For the first time, the communications challenges of targeting, distributing, monitoring and measuring have been integrated into a single service that redefines the "distribution only" business model traditionally followed by commercial newswires.

The new service comes as a result of CNW's acquisition of dna13, a leading edge, Ottawa-based high tech company whose unique software allows public relations practitioners to manage, monitor and measure the success of their communications campaigns.

"The integration of dna13 into CNW completely changes the basic concept of a newswire," said CNW CEO Carolyn McGill-Davidson. "We're evolving our business to provide an online communications service unlike any other in the market and dna13 is an exciting acquisition that advances that strategy."

The dna13 platform, marketed by CNW as MediaVantage, is a strategic fit with CNW's core business; a Canadian newswire service that distributes client-generated news release content simultaneously into newsrooms across the country and around the world.

"CNW and dna13 have worked collaboratively to market and develop the software for the past five years and in that time, the web evolved, media evolved and the challenges faced by today's communicators intensified. Put together, CNW is first to offer a fully integrated communication solution that responds to the needs of today's communicators with a set of tools that manage the complete end-to-end (and around again) communications process," said McGill-Davidson.

"The acquisition is good news for CNW and dna13 clients on both sides of the border. CNW and dna13 are aligned in their plans for the product. Using an agile approach to development, the dna13 team plans to continually enhance the offering while working with CNW developers to integrate it more tightly with CNW's existing services," said Kevin O'Neil, President of dna13.

Hundreds of public relations professionals are already using the software platform to keep on top of their issues, including communication teams within major Canadian banks, Canadian and US federal government departments, and top tier North American consumer brands.

The software has also been marketed separately in the United States under the brand name dna13. Existing dna13 clients in the US will continue to interact directly with dna13 and will receive the same level of high quality service and support to which they are accustomed.

The role of the communicator is more challenging than ever

Media professionals speaking at CNW's recent Breakfast with the Media series repeated a similar message at events all across the country: News breaks online 24 hours a day. As a result, journalists and public relations professionals both are dealing with an intensified workload.

"The public relations business is even more important now. Reporting is more of a process, in that the story is going to continue to evolve, and PR people need to stay involved," said Mathew Ingram, GigaOm. "Be aware that the story never ends."

"Journalists are not looking for just a print press release now. They're going to be asked by their editors for multimedia - whether there is a photo, or a video and what is the potential for social media. You need to think about this when putting out a package for reporters," said Scott Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Canwest. "You can't relax. The deadline is now -- and now -- and now. It is a constantly evolving story."

"We're in an always-on world right now. We live in this era of compressed news cycles," said Kirk LaPointe, Managing Editor, Vancouver Sun. "As the day goes on, as we post breaking news to our website and update it and package it and put it in such a way that it can be found, and then we try to rework it for the print edition. A few years ago the website was basically a digital facsimile of that morning's newspaper. And now the newspaper is the final edition of the website."

"Not only do we now have several channels to communicate with our readers, but also to communicate with the newsroom," said Roland-Yves Carignan, Information Director, Le Devoir. "There is not only one channel that must be controlled within the newsroom, but several because there are numerous people involved in the process where before essentially there was only one. It was the journalist."

Today's public relations professional manages a constant and unpredictable communications demand. CNW is giving its clients the power to streamline their workload and combat a communications cycle that no longer has a clear beginning or end.

About CNW Group

CNW is Canada's newswire company, connecting organizations to relevant news and information consumers across the country and around the world. CNW is committed to providing integrated, intelligent communications and disclosure services that help clients work more efficiently and meet their objectives. In addition to newswire distribution, CNW offers webcast, video, photography, social media releases, translation, regulatory filing services and MediaVantage, a web-based solution offering real-time media monitoring, communications workflow solutions and campaign measurement capability. Established in 1960, CNW is celebrating its 50th year as an industry leader. www.newswire.ca

About dna13

dna13 is a leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider for public relations and marketing communications professionals around the globe. As the premier web-based application for media intelligence and PR management, the dna13 solution provides real-time access to TV, print, online and social media content, providing communicators the insight they need to plan marketing strategies, securely align corporate teams, synchronize the delivery of corporate messages, and engage with key stakeholders. dna13 is a wholly owned subsidiary of CNW Group. www.dna13.com